- Sr. Wendy Beckett, British art historian and PBS host
Who was the woman that posed for Leonard da Vinci's famous painting, the Mona Lisa?
Many scholars believe that she was Lisa Gheradini of Florence, Italy. On this date in 1495, she married a wealthy silk merchant named Francesco del Giocondo. Deeply in love with his wife, del Giocondo commissioned da Vinci in 1503 to paint her portrait.
For some reason, the merchant never received the completed painting. Instead da Vinci took the Mona Lisa to France where he finished it. The Mona Lisa was later given to the king of France. After the French Revolution, the painting was brought to the Louvre Museum, where it remains today.
The del Giocondo family had five children, of whom two daughters entered the convent. After her husband's death in 1538, Lisa was taken care of by her son, and then by her daughter, Marietta, who had entered the Convent of St. Ursula in Florence, Italy.
Lisa Gheradini died four years after her husband and is buried at the convent.
- Little Black Book, Diocese of Saginaw